Some video can be downloaded and synched for viewing on mobile devices but site design is for desktops.

Hot:

A massive number of young amateurs.

Not:

No search; high price includes a "processing" surcharge.

Review date: July 2016

[Note: This site was known as First Auditions until July, 2012]

In almost 1100 bare bones casting videos you'll see young men from 60 countries (mostly the U.K.)
strip and jerk off for the unblinking eye of The
Casting Room's camera. It is a ritual of mild humiliation that is repeated so many times it
becomes almost mesmerizing -- and a bit repetitive. However there's now a new twist that livens
things up: a handful of guys move to "The Fucking Room" where you get to watch careful match-ups of
those willing to take things further. Although the cost of your monthly membership is high there is
a massive number of videos here, with updates at least once weekly.

Tour

The tour of The Casting Room is not a
mirror tour of what you'll find inside. The preview page includes a short video montage of some of
the men. You will also find several scenes listed, with a detailed scene description and 12 teaser
photos for each one.

The site used to include a second page of preview images, but this is no longer the case. Any
link you click will take you to the sign-up page.

When you go to sign up, you'll notice that the price is $39.95 PLUS a processing fee of $1.95, for a
total of $41.90. This is very unusual, kind of like airlines charging for checked bags.

Usability

The site's design, navigation and usability is a dog's breakfast to say the least; it could use a
face-lift. You can browse the model indexes chronologically by "Latest Updates", by "All Men" (large
images), by "All Men: (small images), by "All Men" (alphabetically) and that's about it. There is no
search option, and the scenes do not include any useful category tags for finding similar men on the
site.

The Men and the Action

The Casting Room offers a large and
varied array of mostly uncut straight men who come from 60 different countries. These are not guys
that usually pose for porn sites; the look of the models varies widely but the men are real. Body
types range from slender to beefy, and there is an interesting variation in looks, dick size and
attitude; no two men are exactly alike.

The site plays up the fact that it is pushing the models beyond their comfort zone, promising a
level of humiliation during their “auditions.” However, in reality the videos are rather tame
and no verbal or physical abuse is featured. The guys do as they are told, at times reluctantly;
some of them even agree to be fondled and fucked with a dildo, but it’s more like they’re being
"tricked" into it than forced. In the end, they are asked on camera if they feel embarrassed by what
they’ve done, even though they've just spilled a huge load.

There is also a section called "The Fucking Room" -- with almost 40 videos -- in which the men get
to go even further, exploring man-on-man sex.

The site's videos are somewhat repetitive as they never stray far from the same formula: cocks are
inspected, heights and weights measured, sometimes a dildo is shoved up somebody’s ass, but all
done in a detached way that never takes full advantage of having these studs at the mercy of the
camera. Shot like procedural videos, they are mostly voyeuristic and distant, keeping the viewer at
arms-length from the action, as if you're watching from across the room.

Video Details

The videos look very good in the 640x360 default size, with some loss of quality when
upsized. But while many of the movies are shot in high definition they are not offered with
high-def specs and would benefit from higher bitrates and larger sizes. Sometimes the videography is
borderline amateurish, with the camera being blocked by the cameraman, jerked around and sometimes
almost missing the cumshots. Watching these studs jerk off can be a real treat, but even voyeurs may
want to see more camera angles. Surprisingly, some of the older videos seem better shot than the
newer ones.

There are close to 1100 15-minute videos, usually divided into 3 parts, documenting the interview,
physical examination and masturbation test. The site updates about once a week. There is no DRM, so
you can keep these videos as long as you like.

Videos can be streamed/downloaded in Windows Media with most having a top speed of 800-1200
kbps and a size of 640x360 pixels. The most recent ones are now offered at 960x540 pixels, 1600
kbps.

About 25% of the videos are available to stream in-browser in Flash format. These are 700x400
pixels in size, but there is no option to upsize them and they are not true streams so you cannot
skip forward until the background download is complete.

Mobile note: There's no mobile version of the site, but videos since listed from 2013 include
a mobile-friendly MP4 file for download. Most videos do not have the specs for play on extra-large
screens.

Image and Other Content

Almost every model on the site has a set of images accompanying each part of each video. The size of
the images and the number per set varies a lot. The scenes, angles and types of shots are
invariably the same, often over-lit, far away and rarely featuring hard cocks. In older sets there
are photo studies of the models, simple front-back-side shots that could be from a medical text
book, except for the extreme closeups of assholes, cocks and balls. There are no zip files or
slide-show options.

Summing Up

The Casting Room succeeds in
exposing a massive number of mostly UK amateurs as they play along with the scenario of being
"forced" and "humiliated" by doing porn for the first time. All in all it's harmless fun and the
sheer number of videos is impressive. The high price (especially with the processing surcharge),
incomplete tour, inelegant design, and inconsistent video quality are minuses -- but not deal
breakers -- if reluctant amateurs are what you're looking for.